How to Use Your iPhone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot
Turn your iPhone into a temporary Wi-Fi router so your laptop or tablet can use your phone's data connection — great for travel or areas without Wi-Fi.
Go to Personal Hotspot in Settings
~15sTurn on Personal Hotspot
~15sQuick Tip
The default hotspot name is your iPhone's name (like "Bailey's iPhone"). To change it, go to SettingsGeneralAboutName.
Note your hotspot password
~15sConnect another device to the hotspot
~15sTurn hotspot off when done
~15sWarning
Keep the hotspot password private. Anyone who knows it can use your data — and their usage counts against your plan.
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When you do not have access to Wi-Fi, your iPhone can share its cellular data connection with other devices like a laptop or iPad. This feature is called Personal Hotspot (or Mobile Hotspot). Your other device connects to your iPhone the same way it would connect to a regular Wi-Fi network.
You can connect other devices to the hotspot using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or a USB cable. Wi-Fi is the most common method. When connected via Wi-Fi, up to five devices can share the connection at once.
Personal Hotspot uses your cellular plan's data. If you have an unlimited data plan, there are usually no extra charges, though some carriers throttle hotspot speeds after a certain amount of usage. If you have a limited plan, each device connected to the hotspot uses data from your pool — so be careful not to run videos or large downloads through the hotspot unless you have plenty of data left.
Your iPhone will show a blue or green status bar at the top of the screen whenever a device is connected to your hotspot. The battery drains faster while hotspot is active, so plug in if possible.
This feature works on any iPhone that has a cellular plan. Some carriers may require you to add a hotspot feature to your plan, though most plans include it today. If hotspot appears grayed out, contact your carrier.
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